First post here, I have lurked for many a year, but now need some advice.

In dragging myself into the 21st Century, I have replaced my venerable Sony CRT to a Panasonic TX VIERA TX-L32D28B and am starting to piece together some components to suit.

My Sky + subscription isn’t HD at this point and I am resisting the upgrade on pure cost alone – I’ve been with Sky for ages and managed to get a 25% reduction last year when I was downsizing my viewing package and I’m reluctant to start paying them any more in the short term at least. Living out in the sticks means I cannot yet get Sky Broadband (to take advantage of Anytime +) and I have considered waiting out with Virgin / TiVo as a next move.

Similarly, my Panasonic DVD Recorder (about to go to be replaced with a Panasonic DMR-XW380EBK 250GB) and the Sky+ connectivity is only by scart and so needs to be considered in the short term.

So the problem is simply that whilst the TV is HD with Freeview and Freesat, the reception that I can get through Sky is SD. Would I therefore need another dish to receive Freesat channels in HD or can the existing dish be amended to achieve this?

The only requirement is that the dish and LNB combo cover the transponder frequencies that the HD services use and produce an adequate signal strength for your receiving equipment. If you are getting a decent signal from Sky on the SD channels then chances are the HD channels will be just as good.

The only thing that may stop you watching Sky and Freesat together however is the number of connections available on the LNB. If you have Sky+ then you will have two connections back to the LNB for full functionality. To add the Freesat receiver will need at least another one (maybe two if you have a recorder).

If the dish has a four output LNB already then it is just a case of running the necessary cable(s) back to the dish and plugging in. Otherwise you will need to change the LNB.

You could as a get you by for now measure unhook the LNB 2 input from the Sky box and plug that into the TV. You may loose some of the full ability of the Sky+ box that relies on two connections. But if nothing else it would prove if the telly works before you splash out on a bit of wire and a couple of plugs

The existing dish can be used by simply connecting one or both of the existing spare outputs on the dish quad lnb. (Twin lnb's for Sky dishes are as rare as hens teeth, Sky always fit quads)

These can be used to feed any digital satellite box either a Sky box, a Freesat box or a generic fta box (like the ones you see in B&Q for instance). Or of course a TV with a built in satellite tuner.

Generally twin tuner Freesat HD boxes need two cables (like your Sky+ box) but the Humax Foxsat-hdr can use one connection with some restriction on what two channels you can record at the same time.

Currently the Freesat epg has the following HD channels
BBC-HD, BBC1-HD, ITV1-HD, CH4-HD and NHK World TV HD